Passion 2010

So, I just got back from Atlanta, Georgia where I attended the Passion 2010 conference as a group leader for some college aged kids from my church. This was my 5th Passion conference, and one of the best so far! There were about 21,000 college students crammed into a conference center, and holy moly what an incredible site that was to see! We filled the Atlanta Hawks' arena (uh, I think thats the name of their basketball team!) and then overflowed into another large room. With bands and worship leaders like David Crowder, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Christy Knockles, Steve Fee, Kristian Stanfil, Charlie Hall, and Hillsong United you know that the worship was INCREDIBLE! And then speakers like, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Andy Stanley, Beth Moore, and John Stinkin Awesome Piper.. the messages were off the chain as well.

I have a huge HUUUUUGE crush on John Piper. Like, remember back in the day when people would get magazines like Teen Bop and take pictures of Nsnyc or Backstreet boys or New Kids and post them alllll over their walls? Yeah if there was like a Pastor's Bop or the Theologian Enquirer, I'd cut out pictures and put him all over my wall too. haha. It's that bad.

Piper's big phrase is "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him." and so many of his sermons stem from the idea of God's glory being the most important thing we need to pursue. So I went to a breakout session he led where he talked about the holy ambition God has placed on each of our lives and how we're called to live out that ambition (which is different from the selfish ambitions of the world) for His glory. It was powerful.

Then in his large group sermon he talked about God being egomaniacal. Here's the text of the sermon if you want to read it. It was incredible. One of my favorite quotes that he used went something along the lines of, "Human beings know deep down inside that they're not made to feel significant... they were made to stand on top of mountains and feel stunned in insignificance. Self-forgetfulness in the presence of Greatness is the capstone of joy." And then when he said, "So from the very beginning, we see that God made his exaltation and our salvation one piece. You don't have to choose between God's glory and your joy, because the apex of your joy is praise, and the apex of his glory is grace."

Oh snap. I realized that after he'd finished speaking, I felt a little light headed... because I had forgotten to breathe for 45 minutes. haha.

On Sunday night Hillsong United led worship for a late night event and holy moly.. I'd never seen them live before, but it was so obvious that the Lord has ordained their ministry and blessed them with incredible gifts of song writing and leading others to the throne of God. When they sang the second verse of "Hosanna" (which means highest praise... and sang the words "I see a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith. I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek.. we're on our knees." It was overwhelming to look out across the arena to 21,000 college students pleading that the Lord would work in their lives and on their campuses and raising their hands in worship to their Creator and Giver of hope... it was beautiful. One of the most powerful corporate worship experiences I've ever been a part of. I wish that you guys could have been there.

The Lord showed me a lot about myself and my future, and my past for that matter while I was at Passion. I know I'm too old for these things... so I'm glad I got to be a group leader. I feel restored, refreshed, and hopeful about the future. I also feel like I have more clarity about going to Sudan in October for a year. I feel like maybe the whole reason I've been hanging out in limbo like this, is to prepare me for that journey. Instead of praying of whether or not I'm supposed to go, I'm now moving into beginning to make those plans a reality. I'm going to move forward until the Lord tells me to stop.

Exciting times.
Check out that Piper article!